


Legacy Lost in Shade

by Magolich



Category: Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 04:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7419433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magolich/pseuds/Magolich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an original story inspired by and based on the Fire Emblem Series, implementing original characters and locations, but using terms and other references from the FE universe.</p><p>Tension rises in the continent of Avrycia, where a demonic prince has gone berserk, and is now waging war on the opposing countries of the land. The lord of a nearby country enlists the help of a young, elusive princess, the sole survivor of an incident that marked the start of the prince's madness, some years ago. Believing the princess to be key in defeating the mad prince, they set out to end the war, meeting new allies and enemies in their wake. The flames of war run deeper however, as the secrets to the two royals' bloodlines are revealed, slowly unlocking an ancient menace that may threaten the world...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue ~ History of Avrycia

_Long ago, there was a continent by the name of Avrycia. In this continent, there were no countries, no kingdoms, nor any boundaries. Humans, animals, beasts and even dragons coexisted in harmony, and they enjoyed many years of peace. However, there was one race that had an agenda of their own. Demons known as the Shadyr; creatures of darkness with great intelligence and cunning. They did not understand the idea of tranquility, believing that nothing could grow or advance if there were no obstacles to overcome._

_Confused, angry and jealous of how the other beings did not suffer from these restless thoughts, they banded together to orchestrate a tragedy, something to get the other creatures to understand them, through any means necessary. With their trickery, they began to manipulate the dragons, the most powerful beings on the continent._

_In the cover of the dark, they whispered into the ears of the dragons, lamenting on how such mighty beasts could not display their power to the fullest, and telling each one that surely they were the strongest of their kind; no other dragon could match their strength. Of course, with the current state of life, they would never be able to show off their abilities, which as they put it, was such a shame._

_At first the dragons dismissed them, aware that what the Shadyr suggested would end the peace they all enjoyed. But the demons continued their attempts of persuasion, and slowly the dragons started to change their views, growing prideful and paranoid of the other dragons. Tension rose, and once it was at its peak, the Shadyr took upon the opportunity with glee, offering to be the tacticians of the dragons, to help them wipe out every other dragon and prove that they were the strongest of them all._

_Unaware that the demons were conspiring together, the dragons accepted their offers, and declared open war amongst one another. So began years of carnage and bloodshed, as the dragons fought one another without mercy, never realizing the destruction and harm they were bringing to the wildlife and beings who used to live peacefully with them; not aware that they were all just pawns to the Shadyr._

_This went on for 50 years, until inevitably, the dragons had wiped themselves off the face of the continent. The entire west half of Avrycia was destroyed; the dragons had primarily waged war in that part of the land, and all traces of life had been erased. The Shadyr revelled in the chaos, thrilled that the peace had finally been broken. However, their original intentions had become corrupted through the experience, no longer just wanting the world to improve through trial. They also began to enjoy the bloodshed they had caused, and lusted for more of it._

_The demons planned their next tragedy, eager to spread the despair and “improvements” to the world. But this would not be case. The remaining humans, who had realized the true masterminds of the disaster, quickly banded together to stop the rising menace. Humankind at the time possessed enormous magical skill, and with that magic they decided to create a special object, to defeat the Shadyr. They poured all of their magic into it, in the hopes that it would be powerful enough to imprison the demons._

_The Shadyr were taken by surprise at the power the humans possessed, and were sealed away into the object. Unfortunately, the enormity of the spell cost the humans a great deal of their magical energy, being forced to rely on tomes from then on to use it well. They hid the object away, praying that the Shadyr would never break free from their seal. Now that peace had been attained once more, the humans parted ways, their hearts too burdened to ever achieve the peace they had before._

_They divided themselves off into three countries, Demios in the north, Phoborus in the east, and Marzenoth in the south. The west half of Avrycia remained inhabited, as vegetation started to grow around the ruins of its civilization. Thus began a new age, where humans ruled the land, and the horrors of previous years were long forgotten. The Shadyr and the dragons became myths, along with the fabled object, that was now known as the Demon Seal._

_It seemed that there would be no more trouble to befall the land. There was now peace… But little did they know that the Shadyr, now commonly named the shadowspawn, had prepared long ago for their downfall, and had decided to take countermeasures…_

_There did not appear to be any problems at first, as the three nations settled down and developed. Demios was known be secluded from the other two nations, choosing to interact little with outsiders. Phoborus became superstitious and wary of the supernatural, taking the myths of shadowspawn and dragons to heart. Marzenoth was a grounded and serious country, not above dirty work to get something done. Although the three countries lived in relative peace, tension and suspicion began to stir amongst one another, most notably when Demios was involved._

_While Phoborus and Marzenoth were run by a council of nobility, Demios was lead by royalty, given that status due to their “special blood.” The behaviour of the Demioan royals were known to occasionally be less than savoury, causing rumours to spread about them. The people of Demios dismissed it if they were ever questioned, saying that their rules treated them fairly overall. They then closed all conversation on the topic, secluding themselves further._

_It wasn’t until a group of spies from Marzenoth was sent out to Demios by a suspicious Phoborian client, that the truth was revealed. They infiltrated the deepest part of Demios’ records hall, locked and unavailable to public. It was there that they learned the truth about the Demioan royals: they were descendants of the Shadyr, possessing the demons’ blood. Immediately this revelation brought many of the Phoborian people into a state of panic, declaring that the royals needed to be executed at once._

_The royals protested, along with the defence of some of the Demioan people, stating that although their blood was dangerous, they never performed a single act of treason against all the nations. They also claimed that their demon blood gave them special talents, that allowed them to help their nation with strategic and diplomatic issues._

_This seemed to satisfy the people of Marzenoth, who did not care so long as they remained peaceful. People in Phoborus soon followed and eased their fears, though there were few who remained wary of Demios, worrying they would attack at any moment. Life continued normally for a few more years, until disaster suddenly struck._

_The current prince of Demios suddenly entered a state of madness, and proceeded to slay all of the living royals. He claimed that the shadowspawn bloodline had been tainted by humans, and swore that he would set their legacy right again, and avenge the Shadyr by starting anew and finishing their mission, by conquering Avrycia and causing destruction in its wake. He became a warlord, already forcing and persuading people to join his cause, through special means that could have only been supernatural. It was only a matter of time until the capital of Demios was conquered, and he set out with his newfound army, taking the nation by force, one city at a time._

_The other two nations reacted immediately, declaring war against the prince in self defence. People in Phoborus accused the Demioans of bringing their own demise, and claimed they knew this was going to happen from the very beginning, refusing to aid them. The Marzenoth simply accepted the logical outcome that Demios could no longer be saved, and prioritized increasing their defences for the day the prince came to their kingdom instead. And so Demios was left to be conquered, without any help from either nations, who were making heavy preparations for the war to come._

_It is at this critical time of turmoil and conflict, that our story begins…_


	2. Meeting in Ruin

“Checkmate.”

The girl moved her chess piece forward, in front of her opponent’s king. Each one of her pieces had been placed in strategic points on the board, and there was no more places for the king to run. The person she was playing against chuckled; a balding man in a monk’s robes “Well done, child. Your skill in tactics shows once again, Minrei.”

The girl smiled. She was around fourteen, with sandy blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, and olive green eyes. She wore white clerical robes, lined with gold stripes, similar to the ones the monk wore. She looked down at the board as she spoke, “thank you for the compliment, Artram. I guess it’s just a gift that I have…”

“Perhaps,” he said. “But you’ve certainly grown better at it. Why, it only took you a few turns to make it to my king, when it took you around ten before. I’m honestly impressed; you managed to reach him without defeating too many of my other pieces. An efficient strategy, that minimizes the violence involved. Well done indeed.” He laughed, “of course, it might be because you’re playing with an old man such as myself.”

Minrei laughed back. “It’s only a game!”

Artram looked at her seriously. “That may be so. But the things you learn from such games can be applied in real life as well. You’d do best to take these things to heart.” Minrei nodded, “if you say so, Artram.”

Artram nodded as well, as he gestured towards the exit. “Good. Now off you go. You can play outside now if you wish. All your studies are done, and I doubt you want to stay here playing games all day long.”

The girl stood up from her chair eagerly, “oh yes! Thank you, Artram!” She left the table, waving to the monk as she walked down the stone steps towards the exit. It was marked by a large stone arch, old and crumbling from standing for so many years.

As she went past the arch, she turned to look back at the ruins, dull and grey, yet covered in traces of green due to the vegetation growing all around it. These were all that was left of the ancient civilizations who lived in the west, wrecked beyond repair by the great war between the dragons. The monks had decided to make the place their accommodation, enjoying the peace and feel of nature that the place radiated.

Minrei turned back from the ruins, running to the forest that encompassed the old buildings. She passed by several monks, who all waved and greeted her as she went. She waved back to them, soon arriving at the entrance to the forest. She slowed down to a walking pace, breathing in the fresh air as she walked down the path, enjoying the nature around her.

Birds chirped in the background, and the wind blew softly through the trees, making a soothing whistling sound. Minrei closed her eyes briefly, taking in the atmosphere. She loved this place; the kind monks, the calming scenery. Everything. Ever since they had taken her in, she’d always felt like she belonged, and that she would be safe. She would be able to forget about what happened back then…

Minrei shook her head, clearing her thoughts. There was no point thinking about such terrifying memories again, with everything going so well. She noticed a clearing up ahead, and ran towards it in excitement. This was her favourite spot in the entire forest, and it always helped her erase the memories from her head.

She soon arrived at the entrance, and took a look around the place. It was a wide open space, covered in lush bright grass. Plenty of sunlight poured through the gap in the trees, shining down brightly on the clearing. There was a pond near the back, surrounded by shiny rocks of different shapes and sizes. A single tree stood over the pond, offering a source of shade to anyone who went by.

Minrei took a step into the clearing, only to stop suddenly, a frown on her face. Something didn’t seem right. Usually there were quite a lot of animals frolicking around the place when she arrived, and she would always enjoy their company. This time the place was empty, with not a creature to be seen. The girl walked forward nervously, looking around once more. It was eerily silent, which unnerved her. This wasn’t normal. Something was obviously wrong…

She suddenly heard a twig snapping behind her, jumping in fear and turning around quickly to face whatever was there. However, it was only a lone rabbit, who seemed braver than the other animals, and curious to what was going on in the clearing.

Minrei relaxed, smiling softly and waving to the rabbit. “Hello there. Do you have any idea about why the place is empty?”

The rabbit tilted its head, scratching its ear. It suddenly froze for a second, soon scampering away from Minrei and disappearing into the bushes. Minrei looked confused. “Why’d he run away? I’m not that scary, am I…?”

A voice spoke behind her. “No, but it was probably scared away by me.”

Minrei cried out in surprise, spinning around to face the person, her eyes wide. The person in front of her was a young man, with black spiky hair and cold grey eyes. He was wearing a black tattered cloak that covered his left side, dark purple in colour underneath. A dark grey chestplate was fitted over a navy shirt, rimmed silver at the edges, along with silver plate armour on his right shoulder. He wore a long black glove on his right hand, that went up to his elbow, while his left hand was covered by a silver gauntlet. He also had navy pants, with grey and silver leg armour covering it, connected to stylized armoured boots. He had a jet black sheath at his left side, connected to a black belt on his waist.

The man knelt down slightly so that he was closer to eye level with Minrei, studying her for a few seconds in silence. He soon spoke, his voice calm, but with a hint of roughness to it. “Greetings. You don’t happen to know about the Demios Massacre, do you?”

The girl’s eyes widened, and she took a step back. She didn’t respond to his question. The man sighed, looking slightly irritated. “I’ll try to be more specific. Do you know about the attack 3 years ago, when the prince slaughtered the rest of the royal family in Demios?”

He kept his gaze on her, watching as the girl started to tremble. “Or so it seemed. You see, for the past several months I’ve been doing quite a lot of research, and I recently came across something very interesting. Apparently there were rumours about a sole survivor of the incident, a princess who managed to escape the country safely. However nobody saw her again after that.”

He watched Minrei again, who had become very still. He continued, “I didn’t stop there, and began to gather information from several places, soon finding quite a few reports of a lone figure wandering down the roads late at night. The people dismissed this as some strange apparition, and weren’t willing to follow the figure due to it seemingly heading towards the west, which were too dangerous to enter.”

He gestured towards the clearing, “personally, I don’t find the place quite so bad. Anyways, I initially decided to give up the search at that point, until I came across more rumours of monks living near the edge of forests in the west…” He turned back to the girl. “And here I am now. Quite a wild search, wouldn’t you say? But I doubt my efforts were in vain…”

He produced a small smile, as he saw that Minrei was pale, her body shaking. “I mean, with your obviously traumatized expression, you must be that princess, correct?”

The girl flinched, her heart racing. She stuttered, her voice filled with dread, “W-What do you want from me…?” The man stood up, looking down at her. “Oh, nothing too much. I just need you to join me. Your brother is a potential threat to Marzenoth, and you’re the best weapon against him.”

Minrei shook her head. “N-No… No, I refuse. I don’t want to have any part in this…” The man sighed, “who said you had a choice? You’re a tool, a trump card against the enemy. Either you can use some shadowspawn tricks of your own to counter his, or you can be a bargaining chip; if the prince has some shred of humanity left in him, or alternatively, is still really keen on wanting to kill the royal family-”

“No!” Minrei backed away from him, shaking her head vehemently. “I-I want no part in this! Don’t call me shadowspawn! You can’t-” There was a sound of someone screaming in the distance, and she froze, realizing where it came from. _The ruins! That means the monks are in danger!_ She turned on the man in horror, “What have you done to them?!”

The man just frowned, looking in the direction the scream came from. “That wasn’t my doing… Did someone follow me into this place?”

A muffled voice then called out behind them. “Lord Xerus!” There was a rustle from the bushes, as a man approached them, riding on a horse. He wore a black helmet, with a visor and mouthpiece concealing his face, and stylized white wings extending from the sides of the helmet. His body was covered in armour with more pronounced shoulder pads, along with armour over his hands, arms and legs, with a small amount of white clothing visible from unprotected areas. The colour of the armour was primarily black, with a few white pieces, giving it the colour scheme resembling that of a butler. His horse was greyish white, covered in black armour as well. A lance and shield was slung by each of the animal’s sides, while a sword hung around the man’s belt.

The man named Xerus turned towards the mounted soldier. “Yes?”

The man bowed from his place on the horse, “Milord, it seems that there are bandits in the area. They must have came here looking for treasure to raid from the ruins, and had encountered the monks. We should act quickly, in case they find the-” He paused, turning to look past Xerus. “Ah, did you find the princess already?”

Xerus nodded, “Yes I did. Our work here is done, let’s just leave now. Get the girl.” He started to move forward, but Minrei stopped him. “Wait!”

The man turned around, seeing that Minrei had grabbed onto his sleeve, struggling to pull him back. “What about the monks?!” Xerus shrugged, “I didn’t come for them. They’ll just have to deal with the bandits themselves. Meanwhile, you’re going with us.” He started to walk again, but Minrei cried out, “no! I can’t just leave them! They’ve looked after me for so long, I don’t want them to get hurt!”

Xerus started to object in exasperation, but Minrei glared up at him, sudden resolve in her eyes. “I promise I’ll go with you peacefully, but only if you help them!”

He stopped, looking down at her determined gaze. A few seconds passed, and he smiled slightly. “Hm, maybe you aren’t as bad as I thought.” He pulled his arm away from her, turning to the other man. “Wilfried, change of plans. We’ll be stopping the bandits first before we leave. Try to keep the monks alive.”

The man bowed, “you’re absolutely sure, milord?” Xerus sighed. “Of course I am. Now get ready.” He looked back at Minrei, gesturing to the clearing’s exit. “Show us the way there… What’s your name?”

The girl bowed to him politely, “my name is Minrei. Your name is Xerus, right? It’s… nice to meet you, I guess. I’ll take you to the ruins right away.” She started to run off towards the exit. Xerus nodded and followed her quickly, as Wilfried spurred his horse and went after them as well. Minrei didn’t slow down, a determined expression on her face as she ran. _I’m scared of what’s going to happen to me… But I have to save the monks. That at least, I’m sure of. I can’t let them get hurt, I just can’t…_

She narrowed her eyes. _I wanted to avoid violence for the rest of my life, but I guess it can’t be helped now. People’s lives are in danger; I need to act._

_I just hope we’re not too late to save them._


End file.
